HCM553: An International Retailer of Sportswear Recently had to Implement a Business Transformation Process: Performance Management and Total Rewards Strategy Report, SUSS, Singapore

Individual Report

An international retailer of sportswear recently had to implement a business transformation process throughout the organization especially in the regional offices, one of which is based in Singapore. Renowned globally for its innovative marketing and customer-focused orientation, this organizational development initiative is to enable the organization to transform its current capabilities in order to be more competitive in the sporting goods industry.

A big four business consultancy was engaged for this business transformation project. Driven by the business need to upgrade the entire information technology (IT) infrastructure organization-wide, consequently, the Accounting & Finance and Human Resources (HR) departments were also reorganized to fit into the implementation of a customized German Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, SAP so that human resources deployment can be optimized too. As the company moves upstream with technology, there is also a plan to outsource the routine and low value-added roles in Accounting & Finance, and Human Resources departments, eventually adopting higher value-added functions to support the organization’s growth in Asia.

Besides the headquarters in Germany, the regional office in Singapore was responsible for ensuring that the efforts were successfully implemented in Asia Pacific sites. An internal  Operational Planning (OPD) department was created to manage this massive business transformation project with functional taskforces formed for the affected functions. They were
the key internal liaison with the business consultancy.

During the business transformation exercise, OPD formed two main task force teams, one in Accounting & Finance and another in HR to oversee the manpower planning exercise and accompanied reorganization. A conscious shift from generalist to specialized roles to better support the business was the main thrust in the creation of new positions with specialized competencies.

For the Human Resources function, the taskforce team helped to move the administrative, generalist HR roles to be strategic business partners, to help the business and the employees transform, adapt and grow. These HR roles would facilitate the adoption of progressive HR practices to attract, develop and retain talent, and collaborate with senior management on people strategy, succession planning, and managing employee relations.

New positions in Business Partnering, Performance and Rewards as well as Talent Management functions were started as a result. There was a need for HR business partners to take a proactive approach to align resources to the organization’s goals and objectives by understanding challenges the business faces and act as a change agent or enabler to help business leaders. At the same time, the war for talent ignites the need for a specialist HR role of Performance and Rewards to put in place a good performance and rewards system in order to attract, motivate and retain talent.

Therefore, with an effective compensation system, HR can shape the employees’ behaviors to bring out their full potential to excel to meet organizational objectives. Lastly, to lay a sound foundation to support the business changes, it is important for business-savvy HR professionals to advocate good people management practices through executing a talent management function.

On the other hand, for Accounting & Finance department, the task force needed to focus on positioning Singapore HQ as a regional accountancy hub to promote innovation, improve productivity, and strengthen the talent pool’s skills. Internationalization through distribution and sourcing has prompted the importance of the key supply chain-related functions of data analytics and demand planning. As the company gears up for business expansion, it has been engaging in exploration of new distribution channels in the industry.

In addition, the continued emphasis on time to market stressed the value of an effective distribution function. All these SCM functions are also grouped under Accounting & Finance departments. Good financial planning through high-value accounting services in a strong management accounting function was necessary too. With this reorganization and creation of new positions, the management felt that there should be some follow-up actions from Human Resource Department in order to maintain internal equity within the organization through the salary structure.

By adopting the Pay Model, explain the whole process of ensuring the internal pay structure is aligned fairly and efficiently within an organization across different functions. Support your answer with an explanation on the job evaluation method of Point Method for:

a) three management positions in each function: HR and Accounting & Finance respectively,

b) three executive positions in each function: HR & Accounting & Finance respectively. The whole process of design of the internal pay structure should encompass the following considerations:

• The strategic perspectives, objectives and the design of the internal reward management structure.
• The vision and mission of the organization should be stated as the Innovator (Product Leadership) business strategy is derived from it.
• Rationale of the business and reward strategy including the justification processes on the importance of the company to strategize in the manner you are suggesting.
• Demonstrate the techniques linking job analysis (job descriptions and person specifications) to eventual job evaluation method.
• Illustrate the job evaluation method of Point Method and provide reasons for employing this method.
• Examine at least SIX positions (1 set of the 2 categories in each function: HR and Accounting & Finance) – 1) 3 managers, 2) 3 executives within the organization structure.
• Determine the final job structure(s) as appropriate according to your assessment.
• The end structure showing evidence of your understanding of job analysis-job description-job evaluation process.
• The intent of this individual assignment is to assess the student’s competency in applying the holistic approach to the creation of an internal pay structure within a company. The specific technicalities of the specialist jobs will not be seriously scrutinized.
• Sample Job Descriptions of the relevant roles in HR and Accounting & Finance functions are provided in the appendices for your reference.